


I Expected Better From You

by Ghostinthehouse



Series: Demon and Angel Professors [161]
Category: Good Omens (TV), Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Professors, Disabled Crowley (Good Omens), Implied/Referenced Abuse, M/M, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-28
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-12 20:42:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 666
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29765328
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ghostinthehouse/pseuds/Ghostinthehouse
Summary: When Jess gets an email ordering her to Dr Crowley's office, she shrugs lightheartedly, and trots off there, expecting a perfunctory scolding from the soft-hearted professor she's familiar with.
Relationships: Aziraphale/Crowley (Good Omens)
Series: Demon and Angel Professors [161]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1412962
Comments: 42
Kudos: 386





	I Expected Better From You

Aziraphale was more than half awake and fretting when Crowley finally returned. He opened an eye and lifted the blankets like a wing so that Crowley could more easily slide in without catching his bad leg on anything.

Crowley grumbled, "Told you not to wait up," even as he slid in and pressed close to Aziraphale, shivering.

"I wasn't," Aziraphale replied, draping warm blankets and a plump arm over his husband. "I simply couldn't sleep."

"'M here now."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Crowley buried his face in Aziraphale's collarbones and sighed. "I just - keep thinking..."

Aziraphale held him and waited, letting him take whatever time he needed.

"This - it could have got me killed. Before..." Crowley's voice wavered and dropped almost to a whisper. "Before, it _would_ have got me killed. Or at least badly hurt. For not being - what I was supposed to be."

Aziraphale hummed softly in response, and held him tighter.

Crowley drew a slow, shuddery, breath, and melted against him. "I know, well, m'head knows, that I'm safer now, but the rest of me's not so sure, angel. Old habits die hard an' all that."

"I know, dearest. And survival is the oldest habit of all."

"'S different when I'm doing the reveal. When I get to choose who, 'n' where, 'n' when..." Crowley's voice trailed off as exhaustion caught up with him.

"Being in control always makes a difference," Aziraphale agreed, nestling his chin into Crowley's hair as they both, finally, drifted towards sleep.

***

When Jess gets an email ordering her to Dr Crowley's office, she shrugs lightheartedly, and trots off there, expecting a perfunctory scolding from the soft-hearted professor she's familiar with.

He's in his chair when she arrives, arms folded, mouth a thin line, dark glasses firmly in place.

She closes the door politely behind her, and he just sits there and looks at her while she has to stand in front of him like a naughty child, and a growing sense of terror and fury seeps out to fill the room. He doesn't move, but he seems to loom over her anyway, like a cobra rearing up and spreading its hood.

When he finally speaks, his voice is low and hard, and as cold as dry ice. "Never, _ever_ , out someone like that again."

Jess rears back, eyes wide and hurt. "But- I- I didn't think-"

"Exactly. You didn't think. You just decided to out me to everyone without concern for the consequences." His mouth thins even further. "And maybe this is third time lucky, and someone outing me as somethng other than how I present, won't be so much a case of 'I fell' and a leg that's never going to be as it once was. Or maybe it will, that remains to be seen."

Jess goes white, and then red, and then white again, as that sinks in.

Dr Crowley continues, his voice even colder. "Your habit of hurting people without thinking was one thing when you were a cranky toddler. It's quite another now that you're grown, and perfectly capable of thinking things through before you act. Do you understand me?"

Jess nods frantically, finally understanding just how scary he can be to those who haven't seen his softer side.

"Well," he snaps, "do you?"

"Yes, Dr Crowley," she whispers, hunching in on herself.

The miasma of fear and fury ebbs, but the look on Dr Crowley's face doesn't change.

He says, "I expected _better_ from you, Jess. I am exceedingly disappointed to be proved wrong. Learn from this. Do. Better. Ask. First."

Jess swallows hard, and stares at the floor. When he dismisses her with a curt wave of his hand, she all but flees.

And Crowley, left alone in his empty office, crumples in his chair, face tight with pain as he tries to knead a knee (that Jess once tried to climb) throbbing from so much driving, and a stabbing headache from so much stress, at the same time.


End file.
